The Seattle Mariners, as in the MLBteam with the longest active not going to the playoffs streak Seattle Mariners, extended their lead in the AL West to 2 games tonight with a 7-1 never-in-doubt win over the defending world champion Houston Astros. Skeptics will point to things like the incredibly low run differential (even after today's 7-1 win over Houston, the Mariners are +23 and the Astros are +116) and flatly state that the Mariner's winning record, currently 38-22 for a .633 mark cannot hold up. The Mariners have had a soft schedule during their May and early June winning streak. Houston meanwhile has been battling the AL east teams a lot. Expectations going into this 2-game miniseries in Houston among Seattle fans had to be guarded.
As if to make a statement, to the baseball world, to their fans, and to the Astros, the Mariners came out crushing today. Their first two batters got hits, a run scored on Hanniger's no-out fielder's choice grounder that he hustled out to avoid a double play, and Cruz beat out a lucky infield Baltimore-hop single. Then came Kyle Seager, the left handed batter who hits good left handed pitchers, and he smashed a 3-run homer to the opposite field. 4-0 M's with only 1 out in the top of the first.
Mariner's ace, James Paxton, came out and retired the Astros 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first. Then after a leadoff single by Ben Gamel (he of hair-flip fame) Mike Zunino absolutely crushed a home run, that would have hit the brick building outside the stadium if the roof had been , making it 6-0 before the Astros had a base runner.
Paxton cruised for 7 2/3 innings, the Mariner's bullpen was perfect, and now the Mariner's lead in the AL West is 2 games over Houston.
Is Seattle really this good? Let's hope Mariner's fans, that this really was our team going to Houston and making a statement that they are for real.
Go Mariners!
Steem on!